Our elected president has a similar function as the Queen in the UK – a symbolic figure rather than one with any real powers. Usually it is simply a mere formality for the president to sign bills from the parliament. Only once before has the president rejected one. The constitution says that when the president refuses a bill it should be put to a national referendum. Last time this happened, though, the legislation was simply withdrawn by the government – but now it seems that the Icesave bill will be the first to be put to the public.

We therefore find ourselves in unknown waters. A quarter of the electorate in the country signed a petition to the president to veto the bill. And according to opinion polls, a majority will reject it in a referendum.

What people in the UK might not understand is that Icelanders feel betrayed by the UK government. When the Icelandic banks ran into trouble in late 2008 the Labour government added insult to injury by invoking the UK anti-terrorist act, freezing all Icelandic assets in the UK – which ultimately drove the banks into the ground. Icelanders therefore find the idea that they should foot the whole bill alone difficult to swallow.

There is also a legal twist. The EU directive upon which the UK and the Dutch base their claim is rather unclear. It stipulates only that states are obliged to set up special deposit-guarantee schemes. It does not speak of a state guarantee. Many people in Iceland are frustrated by the fact that the British and the Dutch have refused our claim for an impartial court to rule on the issue.

The general perception in Iceland is that our government has been bullied by an overwhelming foreign power into signing an unjust agreement. It is generally accepted that our government and the parliament only accepted the deal to achieve other ends, rather than feeling an obligation to pay out. It was simply a necessary evil to gain access to the IMF, and ultimately also to the EU – and thereby the euro. Whatever the reality might be, it is widely thought that the UK has been throwing its weight around so as to hinder Iceland from obtaining international help.

And then there is the cost. £3.4bn might seem a small figure by UK standards but divided by Iceland's small population the bill amounts to more than £10,000 per head, or over £40,000 per household. Anyone can see that this places a devastating burden on an already debt-ridden population.

Iceland will have to repay the debt: that much was agreed in a bill that became law this summer. The question is when – and like the president, most Icelanders believe their country needs more time to recover from the enormous shock inflicted on our economy during the 2008 crisis.